Sen. Jeff Flake threatens Trump with impeachment if he fires Mueller
Mar 20, 2018, 3:25 PM | Updated: 9:33 pm
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., walks to his office, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, at Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
PHOENIX — Many lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), believe the recent White House shakeups could be paving the way for President Donald Trump to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
The Arizona senator even took to social media on Tuesday to plead with the president to not “create a constitutional crisis.”
We are begging the president not to fire the special counsel. Don't create a constitutional crisis. Congress cannot preempt such a firing. Our only constitutional remedy is after the fact, through impeachment. No one wants that outcome. Mr. President, please don't go there.
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) March 20, 2018
The comments came shortly after Flake said in a Washington Post article that he would support impeachment proceedings against Trump if he moved to fire Mueller “without cause.”
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“If [Trump] fires [Mueller] without cause, how different is that from what Nixon did with the Saturday Night Massacre?” Flake asked. “He left before impeachment came, but that was the remedy then and that would be the remedy now.”
Mueller has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The call for impeachment went one step further compared to what the Republican said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. Flake said at the time that he hoped enough people would tell Trump to not “go there” now so Republicans will not have to deal with him crossing that line.
“We have confidence in Mueller. I certainly do,” Flake said.
“And I think my colleagues do as well. So, I hope that the pushback is now to keep the president from going there.”
But Flake was not the only Republican lawmaker talking about the possibility of impeachment: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt Tuesday that if Trump fired Mueller “without cause,” then it would “probably” be an impeachable offense.
“Nobody wants to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it,” Flake told the Post. “As soon as you mention the ‘I’ word, that’s all people want to talk about.”
